North America Holds the Highest Share in the 3D Printing Metals Market

Bangalore, India: With its recently published study “3D Printing Metals Market: Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, Trends, and Forecasts up to 2022”, Infoholic forecasts that the market will continue to increase owing to the increased exposure across different industries such as aerospace & defense, automotive, consumer products among other. 3D printing technology is mostly used for rapid prototyping, jigs, and fixtures. The demand for metal in this has gained popularity in the past few years, especially in aerospace & OEM manufacturers, due to better available metal sintering technology, i.e. Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). Materials such as titanium, aluminum, steel, and alloys are mainly used for part manufacturing.

The increased acceptance of 3D printing technology has given rise to market expectations w.r.t. 3D printing metal applications. This has made way for mass production and tooling operations. Different metals such as titanium and steel are utilized in aerospace and automotive industries which are boosting the demand for 3D printing metal materials across geographies. Expiration of old existing patents along with upcoming advanced technological solutions, are expanding its market in the global economy. Further, increasing market penetration in developing economies would lead the market toward robust growth opportunities. This trend is expected to continue during the forecast period 2016–2022 to further increase the 3D printing metals market at a CAGR of 26.4% and reach a market value of $691.0 million by 2022.

The developed markets such as North America dominate the 3D printing metals market currently, while Europe and Asia Pacific are following them. This is largely because of the affordability limitations posed by the premium pricing associated with 3D printing technology . Potential shortage of reduced production time and cost benefit are contributing to the popularity among part manufacturers, enabling the adaptation in assembly lines. This phenomenon was largely restricted to the developed countries, although the developing countries such as China and India have started adopting 3D printing with low priced alternatives. Asia’s growth is expected to be exponentially high during the forecast period with increasing adaptation while underdeveloped countries are expected to witness higher penetration giving a boost to the 3D printing metal materials market.

The customization savvy aerospace & defense segment is the leading segment for 3D printing metal demand. Other major segments which contribute significant market are healthcare and others (consumer goods, electronics, construction, etc.). The increased demand for tooling, machining, and rapid prototyping of metals as well as metal polymer mix is adding characteristic agility toward functional part manufacturing. The increased life and higher reliability of 3D printed product is added advantage driving demand. The changing dynamics and increasing acceptance has led to rapid growth of commodity as well as precious metal segments within 3D printing. Dedicated alloys have relatively smaller market portion by value, although the adoption is expected to increase exponentially over the years, generating much higher revenues for 3D printing metals in future.

“The metals account roughly around 31% of overall 3D printing materials. The market which was was largely dominated by plastics or ceramics is now seeing viable options for metals as well. The benefits of 3D printed products along with increasing options for users by all suppliers is changing customer dynamics. The changing IP scenario and new entrants are giving enough opportunities to ensure that the 3D printing metal would see exponential growth rate during next five to ten years.” – Satya Shiwani, Senior Research Analyst

Key insights of the report

The global 3D printing metals market has been analyzed based on metal type